The Empty City (18 page)

The four dogs edged nervously around a broken wire fence and began to explore. A scruffy-looking building leaned against the house like a longpaw who'd been drinking fire-juice. Pawing the splintered wooden door, Lucky felt it give abruptly, and he jumped back as it creaked and groaned and collapsed inward.

Hackles high, they sniffed the dank air inside. There was a sharp smell of the liquid that longpaws gave to their loudcages to make them run, but the loudcage that squatted in the shack, apparently asleep, didn't look as if it had run anywhere for a long time. It was dented, and rusty, and its round rubber paws were flat against the stone floor. Its big round eyes didn't flash, even when Lucky pushed the loudcage's door with a paw, and one of them was broken into sharp shards.

“This loudcage hasn't been used for a long time,” announced Daisy, proud of her knowledge.

“I don't think it'll howl....” said Lucky doubtfully.

“Of course it won't howl,” said Sunshine. “It's dead.”

Well, these dogs know more about longpaw things than I do …
Hesitantly Lucky pawed at the loudcage's door, but it didn't swing open for him the way the broken loudcage in the city had, when it let him sleep inside.

Alfie barked at a small bar of metal set into the door. “That bit. Pull that, Lucky!”

More determinedly Lucky scraped at the metal lever till he felt it give under his paw; as soon as she heard the loud
clunk
, Daisy grabbed the edge of the door with her teeth and pulled it wide.

Lucky gave her an admiring glance, then sniffed at the inside of the loudcage. “That was clever, Daisy.”

She wagged her brown tail with pleasure. “Let's look inside!”

The loudcage smelled of old and acrid longpaw smoke. The tanned skin of its seats was torn and moldy, and Lucky wrinkled his muzzle. Alfie, though, squeezed past him and began to tug with his teeth at the skin.

It must be dead
, Lucky thought.
Otherwise it would definitely be wailing by now!

When he was quite sure of that, Lucky joined Alfie in tearing at the skin till it was coming off in strips with an awful, but rather satisfying, ripping noise. “We can't eat this,” he pointed out curiously.

“I have,” said Alfie mischievously. “I've eaten it lots of times. It doesn't taste very good, but it's fun.”

Sunshine gave a little giggling yelp of agreement. “My longpaw was so angry when I chewed hers!”

“I bet she didn't smack you,” said Daisy.

“Of course not,” said Sunshine smugly. “She never smacked me, but I didn't get a treat before bedtime. Still, it was worth it.”

“The thing is,” Daisy told Lucky, “this stuff is terribly comfy to lie on.”

Lucky pricked his ears and wagged his tail hard, looking from face to face. “Well done!” he exclaimed proudly, and tore at the seat-skin with renewed enthusiasm.

“
And
there's a soft-hide in the back,” pointed out Sunshine, putting her paws on the seat-back and panting eagerly as she peered over. “It doesn't look very clean, but it'll be cozy.”

By the time they left the shack, they held in their jaws a magnificent haul of soft loudcage skin-strips and one tattered soft-hide. It was awkward carrying it all back to the camp, but even Sunshine didn't complain. Their reception from the rest of the Pack made the small dogs lift their heads and trot with pride.

“Daisy!” exclaimed Bella. “All of you! Where did you find those?”

It took Daisy and Sunshine a long time to tell the story, they were so breathless with excitement. While they explained their adventure, Lucky and Alfie were left to pull the soft-hide and the pieces of skin onto the leaf-bed. But Lucky found he couldn't mind.
They're taking pride in their dog-spirit
.

Bella gazed admiringly at their new and splendid sleeping-place. “We had good luck, too,” she told Lucky. “Mickey found a squirrel, and we caught another rabbit!”

“That's wonderful.” Lucky licked his litter-sister's muzzle. “Did you keep some for us?”

“We haven't even started it yet,” she told him, mock-indignantly. “As if we would!”

Well
, he thought to himself,
you haven't been really, truly hungry so far....
But all he said was, “Thank you, Bella! That's good Pack work.”

“And there's something else.” She nipped gently at his nose. “Come and see what Martha found.”

Bella led him over toward the river. Martha and Mickey were pawing energetically at a boulder on the banks of the stream, and Lucky and Bella had to wade into the water to watch them properly.

“Look!” Martha turned to him, panting. “Isn't this perfect?”

Lucky peered at the big flat rock, and saw right away that of course they weren't trying to dig away at solid stone. Beneath the rock there was a small cavern formed by thick tree roots, and Mickey and Martha had hollowed it out. It now formed a deep hole beneath the bank, and the very edge of the stream rippled across its entrance. Martha gazed at Lucky expectantly as he explored it with his muzzle.

“We can keep extra food here—if we have any,” she told him. “It'll stay cool so it'll still taste good, and it won't go bad so quickly. Like a longpaw cold-box!”

Lucky stepped back into the stream, deeply impressed. “Martha, that's brilliant.”

“Isn't it?” agreed Bella. “It was Martha and Mickey's idea.” She sounded terribly proud of her Leashed friends' initiative. Although Lucky doubted they'd ever have much food to spare, it was the kind of practical, longpawish idea that would never have occurred to him.

As if reading his thoughts, Bella said, “I think we should try to keep a little food back whenever we can. It'll be difficult, but it'll mean we always have something to keep us going if—well, if we can't catch any food one sunup, for instance.”

“That's a smart idea,” Lucky told her approvingly. “In the meantime we must all be hungry. Let's share Mickey and Bella's prey.”

It was a popular suggestion, and the other dogs watched admiringly as Mickey and Bella divided up the rabbit and the squirrel, tugging them into bits of fur and flesh and nudging the pieces to their friends. As they worked, Lucky glanced at the sky, feeling the hairs on his back prickle. Things looked gray and bleak up there, as though Sky-Dog was getting ready for something. They should make their offering and eat quickly, Lucky decided. Then he hesitated.

“It's a long time since I shared my food with the Earth-Dog,” he said, ashamed. “I've been so busy trying to survive, I haven't been able to spare even a scrap. She's brought me this far, and I have to give her some prey, too.”

“But—” Bruno opened his jaws to protest as Lucky began to scrape a hole in the earth. He noticed Martha shoot Bruno a warning look.

Lucky picked up a rabbit leg in his teeth, and dropped it reverently into the hole. For a moment he closed his eyes, thanking the Earth-Dog, then scraped soil back over the chunk of flesh.

When he looked up, all the other dogs were staring at him, but at least they knew better than to say anything.
They'll learn
.

“Now,” Lucky said. “We can eat!”

The rest of the dogs exchanged glances, their shoulders sagging with relief and their tongues flicking out to lick their chops as Lucky shared out the meat. When each dog had a chunk to gnaw on, there were two haunches left over, and Mickey put his paw on them.

“Let's put these in our cold-box. For tomorrow, just in case.”

“Yes.” Lucky paused in chewing at his tender piece of rabbit flank. Despite his approval of Mickey's forward planning, he felt a little tremor of distaste. “But can we call it our ‘river-store'? Instead of a cold-box?”

Bella gave an amused bark and licked his ear fondly. “Well, I don't see why not. That's a much better name anyway. More … more
doggish
.”

“Yes,” agreed Lucky, relieved. At that moment he felt something wet splash onto his ear, and he shook his head, only to feel two more cold spots on his skull and his other ear. “It's going to
pour—
”

Sure enough, they all raised their heads and heard the distant rumble of the Sky-Dog growling, as the rain suddenly spattered harder on their hides. Sunshine crouched whimpering beneath Martha's flanks.

“Not thunder!” she whined.

“Another Sky-Dog fight.” Lucky shivered. “It's time to test our shelter.”

Together they crept onto the sleeping space beneath the tangled branches of the thornbush, and huddled in a heap of warm bodies, Sunshine and Daisy tucked safely in the middle. Each of the dogs had pulled their longpaw things close beside them—Mickey settled beside his glove and Daisy rested a paw on her leather pouch. Lucky could feel Sunshine trembling against his flank, and the warmth of Bella's throat where she rested her head across his shoulders. The closeness, the strong beating hearts of other dogs, sent visions of the Pup Pack flashing through his head again, but it no longer made him uneasy. Now, the memory was comforting.

The storm was over soon. Lucky raised his head as the sky lightened, and watched the black, thundering cloudbank drift out over the ocean.

“You know what was happening, don't you?” Lucky said, almost to himself.

“No,” Sunshine said, her voice full of misery. Lucky knew he could make her feel better if he shared a story. The little dog edged out slightly so that she could train her eyes on Lucky's face.

“The Sky-Dogs sent out Lightning to tease Earth-Dog. But the Sun-Dog growled his displeasure—they were the rolls of thunder—and sent the Sky-Dogs and Lightning packing. Now, the Sun-Dog blazes once more and the wet leaves glitter. See?”

Hesitantly Lucky crept across the shivering bodies of the other dogs and nosed the air. It still tasted of battle and lightning, but the sky was clear and bright once more.

Lucky glanced back at the others' nervous and expectant faces. A few drops of rain had leaked through to their sleeping-place, but the overhanging bush had protected them all remarkably well. Lucky barked happily.

“Come on! It's fresh water from the Sky-Dogs!”

He bounded into the open, where a puddle of new rain glinted in the hollow. He leaped wildly into it, and Bruno and Mickey followed on his heels, rolling and barking with glee. The rest were quick to join them.

The clear puddle was soon a splattered patch of mud, and their legs and bellies were black with it; Sunshine was the first to escape the puddle, trot toward the river, and splash delicately into the calm eddying pool at its edge, letting the water wash her white fur. When they'd all swum themselves clean—Bruno with some trepidation, though Martha stayed protectively close to him—they clambered from the stream and shook themselves dry. Each dog, Lucky realized, was thoroughly wetting the others with every shake, the scattering showers of water glinting in the sun-high light.

Panting, he flopped onto the flat rock at the edge of the river and watched Mickey roll blissfully in the dry sand on the shore. The Sun-Dog's rays were deliciously warm on his heaving flanks, and Bella soon came to join him, followed by the others. Only Martha still stood in the river, lapping at the water, enjoying its flow around her legs.

Sunshine was right
, he realized.
It really is perfect here
.

Carefully he licked his paws. Perhaps, soon, they would take him bounding across open land again....

But he couldn't think about leaving the others—not yet. These dogs were getting better at listening to their dog-spirits—so much better—but they had a long way to go. When they could look after themselves, when they could hunt and survive and thrive alone:
That
would be the time for Lucky to leave.

“Look! Look what I caught!”

Lucky opened one eye and pricked an ear. It had been his waking routine for the last several days. The late sun-high was warm and humming with bees, and he was almost too comfortable to move. But Daisy loved to impress him; sleepily he wondered what she'd brought him this time. It was hard work feigning enthusiasm over her latest beetle, but he was fond of the young dog and he didn't want to disappoint her, so he hauled himself to his feet and sniffed eagerly as she came bounding toward him.